A survey produced by media audience measurement company Nielsen has revealed that almost three million American viewers ended their cable TV subscriptions last year, with many believed to have opted for Internet-based TV as their alternative.

The study, which was released last week, discovered that while some of the cable-cutters moved onto a telecom service or satellite TV, overall TV package subscription numbers have dropped by around 1.5m, 1.5% lower than previous figures.

On the flipside, though, the survey also found an increase in the number of HD TV sets (by 8 million), and that 98% of video content viewed in America can be found on TV screens, though it was found that an increasing level of this was done via online connection or connected TV devices such as games consoles.

The report read: “After several years of consistent year-over-year growth, traditional TV viewing declined one half of one percent or roughly 46 minutes per month. This may be the result of leveling off after a period of sustained growth, weather and economic factors or of other viewing options.

As more homes adopt DVRs and transition to timeshifted viewing, timeshifted TV growth has offset the bulk of live TV declines. Other potential factors include time spent using game consoles, tablets and other emerging devices.”

Meanwhile, it was also discovered that average viewers watched a monthly amount of 153 hours of ‘traditional TV’, while ‘timeshifted’ viewing levels were at 27 hours, including catch-up or recorded content. In addition, 24 hours is the monthly average for browsing the Internet, while four of those are taken up by online videos, with the same length of time recorded for watching via mobile devices.

With a number of figures working in their favour, it is clear that connected TV viewing is on the rise, but will they be able to chip further into the long-running domination of ‘static viewing’?